There is not an undoubted answer regarding the meaning of the
colors of the Italian flag . However the most valid hypothesis is
the one made by V. Fiorini, the colors came from the colors of
the uniforms of the civic militia of Milan. These were green and
white (so people called them "remolazzitt" (small
radish) and some red parts were added on 19 August 1796 when the
Militia become the National Guard.

In October of the same year the Lombard Legion was constituted,
and it adopted an uniform of the same colors and in orders issued
the day 9 October (art. IX), it was stated that "each Cohort
will have its National tricolored Lombard standard,
differentiated by number, and ornate with the emblems of
Liberty". Napoleon himself described the colors : "...
the national colors to adopt are the green, the white and the
red" (On the message to the Direttorio of 11 October 1796
for the constitution of the Lombard Legion) These standards had
the colors vertically displayed with the green at the hoist and
they were the very first model of the Tricolore, but only as a
military flag.

The first true national flag that used the colors horizontally
displayed is the Cispadana Republic flag. This flag was adopted
on 7 January 1797 and had the red at the top, the white in the
middle, charged with the coat of arms, and the green at the
bottom.
On 17 July 1797 the Cispadana and the Transpadana republics were
united as the Cisalpine republic which, on 11 May 1798,
officially adopted the Tricolore which is today Italian flag (the
flag was already in use at least since January 1798).
We can so say that the model of the Italian flag came from the
French Tricolore, while its colors came from the uniforms, like
those of many German States.

In 1802 the Cisalpine republic was transformed into the Italian
republic and on 20 August a new flag was adopted. The new design
was of the kind of the Napoleonic military flags: on a red field
a white lozenge over which a green rectangle. On March 1805 the
republic changed to kingdom
and a golden Napoleonic eagle was added on the green field of the
flag.

The Tricolore, charged with the Savoy shield in the center,
became in 1848 the national flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia and,
in 1861 of the Kingdom of Italy. The State flag and the war
ensign included the Savoy crown over the shield. Finally, on 19
June 1946, the plain Tricolore became the flag of the Italian
republic. With decree of 9 November 1947, In order to avoid
confusion with the Mexican flag at sea, two different coat of
arms were added to the civil and war ensigns.Mario Fabretto , 3 October 1997

I found in a Napoleon Web page the following explanations
by Pr. F. Frasca (Universita La Sapienza, Roma):
"Albert Pingaud, in his book 'Bonaparte president de la
Republique Italienne', proposed three hypotheses for the choice
of the green colour:
- Bonaparte himself advised or imposed the green colour as the
Corsican colour. Later, he used green for his House.
- Green was, before the Revolution, the base of the uniforms of
the City militia in Milano.
- Green was considered as the Italian colour. This appears in an
official note, dated 1805, written for the creation of the Order
of the Iron Crown.
- Green might represent the idea that the vegetation growth is
more profuse in Italy than in the Northern countries." (my
own translation from French text).Ivan Sache, 21 July 1997

Translated from the Italian Constitution:
"Article 12 - The flag of the Republic is the tricolor
Italian: green, white and red, a triband vertically in equal
dimension."Zach Harden, 27 February 2002

Recently the Italian Govern has codified the colours of our
flag (circular of the sottosegretario Gianni Letta of 18 Sept.
2002 and circular of the segretario generale Antonio Catricalà
of 17 Jan. 2003).
The official Pantone codes are:
green 18-5642TC
white 11-4201TC
red 18-1660TC
These colours have been determined by a commission of the
Poligrafico dello Stato that has made a average of the colours of
the flags of the Quirinale (the palace of the President of the
Republic), of the Senato (Senate), of the Camera dei Deputati
(House of Deputies), of the Presidenza del Consiglio (Presidence
of the Council = Govern) and of the Ministry of Defence. I don't
know if they are specialist codes. I've only copied those codes
published on the Corriere della Sera (the most important Italian
newspaper) when it reported the news about the colours. In the
text they say that those codes are "pantoni". The
same news are reported in Spanish (but the source is probably the
Corriere) at <es.news.yahoo.com>.Guido Abate, 15 and 17 March 2003

According to this piece: "The Government codifies the
color shades for the first time: bright meadow green, milk white
and tomato red." These are not meant to be "new"
colors but rather to strictly codify those traditionally
perceived as correct.Anto'nio Martins, 26 March 2003

According to "Televideo" slight different
Italian flag has been displayed in the previous
days in front of Montecitorio: green and red were darker
then ordinary ones and white was replaced by
a yellowish. Intini (member of Parliament
SDI) asked the government to refer about this unconventional
flag.
From <news.bbc.co.uk>:"Italian opposition in flap over flag-
Italian opposition leaders have accused Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi of tinkering with the national flag, after subtle
changes in its colour were introduced. One accused him of a "chromatic coup d'etat".
The row began when observers spotted that a new Italian flag
flying outside Mr Berlusconi's Rome office was subtly different
from its predecessors.
The green, they claim, is deeper, the red has taken on ruby hues,
and the white has turned to ivory. Last September the Italian
Government set up a team to work out exactly what shades of the
three colours should be used on Italian flags.
Mr Berlusconi's office, it is thought, may be the first to
demonstrate the results.
But his political opponents are furious.
"It's a veritable chromatic coup d'etat," said Green
Party president Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio. The party is so angry it
wants a national referendum to allow the public to choose the
right shades.
Passers-by did not share the sense of outrage. "I don't mind
- it looks like my flag," said one man. "It's not ugly
even if the red is a little darker."
Mr Berlusconi's office accuses his opponents of using the issue
to attack the prime minister. The left was carrying out an
unjustified attack when it should be more concerned with national
interests, said Mr Berlusconi's spokesman."
From <story.news.yahoo.com>:
"Italians in revolt at new flag (Thu Apr 24, 9:36 AM ET) -
ROME (Reuters) - Few people took notice when the Italian
government decided to define last year the exact colours of the
"tricolore" -- the green, red and white national flag.
But the "makeover" has sparked a revolt in the last
couple of days since Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office
started flying the new banner, with a slightly deeper green, a
new ruby red and an ivory white.
"It's a veritable chromatic coup d'etat," said Alfonso
Pecoraro Scanio, president of the Green Party, which has called
for a national referendum to decide on the "true
colours" of the flag whose history dates back to the 1700s.
Opposition leaders say the new version with its "designer
colours" is an attack on the traditional flag with its more
brassy hues.
But most Italians wandering by the prime minister's offices in
the centre of Rome shrugged off the facelift. "It's not ugly
even if the red is a little darker," one man said. "I
don't mind, it looks like my flag."
Albert S Kirsch, Marco Lambruschi, Jan Zrzavy
and Dipesh Navsaria, 28 April 2003

Concerning these reports and the one reported by Zach Harden
from <story.news.yahoo.com>,
the Italian flag will remain the same: they said the darker shade
was a "technical error" by the flag manufacturer, who
misinterpreted the Pantone colour coding decided by the
Government. The "chromatic coup d'état" caused a lot
of quarrels some days ago:
(ANSA) - Roma, 29 APR (translated by me) - There could be a
parliamentary motion to stop the quarrel abut the colours of the
Italian flag. Some members of parliament belonging both to the
Olive-Tree (L'Ulivo) and to the House of the Liberties (CdL)
coalizations will ask the goverment to re-examine urgently the
chromatic codes established in the circular letter which actually
changed the national banner.
The government replied that it was a "technical
error": the Pantone codes do not correspond to the darker
shades of the flags recently shown and so they should be
considered erroneous. See <www.corriere.it>.
So, the colours of the Italian Flag will return the usual ones.Paolo Montanelli, 5 May 2003

On the "Gazzetta Ufficiale" n. 174 of the 28 July
2006, it has been published the Official Protocol of State, in
which are determined (on page 34) the right pantone colors of the
Italian flag that are the following:
Green 17-6153
White 11-0601
Red 18-1662.Gianfranco Giancaterino, 13 September 2006

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags
and Anthems Manual London 2012) provides recommendations for national flag
designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for
their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm
version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the
official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC
believed the flag to be. For Italy, PMS 356 green, 1797 red. The vertical
flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.Ian
Sumner, 12 October 2012

The flag is for national, government and military use in land
and for government use at sea.
For private use at sea there is an ensign similar to the national
flag, but carrying a shield on the white strip with the four
symbols of the so-called "Sea Republics" (Repubbliche
Marinare) of Italian tradition: first quarter Venice (St.
Mark's winged lion holding a book), second Genoa (a red-on-white
cross), third Amalfi (Maltese white cross on dark blue) and
fourth quarter Pisa (peculiar-shaped white cross on red).
Navy carries the same flag, but the lion holds a sword instead of
a book and the whole shield is crowned. These flags are official
since 9th November 1947.Alessio Bragadini

Until the end of WW II, the Italian flag always had the Savoy
coat of arms in the center (without the crown: Merchant, with the
crown: naval ensign) {so there was no confusion at sea}. After
the war, the plain tricolor was adopted as the national flag, but
in order to avoid confusion with the Mexican merchant flag, the
new Italian coat of arms was placed in the center of the Italian
merchant flag (again with no crown.)Nick Artimovich, 16 March 1998

Article 12 - The flag of the Republic is the Italian tricolor:
green, white and red, in three vertical bands, equal in
dimension(s).Zach Harden and Manuel Giorgini, 28 February
2002

There is apparently nothing in Decree No. 1305 of 9 November
1947 (confirming a Decree of the Provisional Government of 18
June 1946) which precludes the Italian tricolour from being hung
vertically. However, Italy does not have a gonfalon.Mello Luchtenberg and Christopher Southworth,
21 February 2003

In Italy the national flag is rarely used too, but not for
"sacredness" of it. We Italian are not much patriotic,
consequently we do not use the flag or its colors in everyday's
life. The only occasions you can see the green-white-red flag
appended outside the not-official buildings are the victories of
Italian soccer team!Giuseppe Bottasini

ROME (Reuters) - Italian firebrand Umberto Bossi, the leader
of the anti-foreigner, anti-European Northern League party, has
been handed a 16-month suspended sentence for referring to the
Italian flag as toilet paper.
A judge in the northern province of Como convicted the
59-year-old politician of contempt on Tuesday and sentenced him
to 16 months in prison but also suspended the term, meaning Bossi
will not have to go to jail.
Bossi's lawyer Matteo Brigandi confirmed the sentence to Reuters
on Wednesday and said Bossi would appeal.
At a rally in 1997, Bossi told a woman who was waving the
national green, white and red "tricolore" to "put
the flag in the toilet," and went on to say: "I've
ordered a truckload of tricolore toilet paper to put in the
toilet. There's a magistrate who says I can't have it. Come off
it!"
Bossi, who once wanted to create a separate nation in the north
of Italy and call it Padania, is a partner in Italy's incoming
center-right government. Now an advocate of devolution, he is on
the cards to be made a deputy leader in incoming prime minister
Silvio Berlusconi's government and at least two other Northern
League members could also be made ministers. Lewis A. Nowitz, 25 May 2001

Umberto Bossi, leader of the Italian political party Lega Nord
was sentenced by a court of law for implying that the Italian
flag could be used when going to the toilet. The parliament has
however revoked this (obviously because of Bossi's parliamentary
imunity). Thus, Italian members of parliament can desecrate the
country's flag, but ordinary Italians may not.Source: Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet on 22
December 2001.Elias Granqvist, 23 December 2001

TREMAGLIA REJECTS RECLASSIFICATION OF DEFAMATION OF FLAG
(AGI) - Rome, Italy Jan 15 - "The public defamation of a
flag as a simple, minor offence? I don't think so..." says
Mirko Tremaglia in regards to the possibility of reclassifying
this crime as proposed by the Nordio commission to reform the
Penal Code. He calls for its withdrawal.
The Minister for Italians throughout the world said, "I
reject the proposal because the flag is the symbol of the
Country. Its defamation or destruction, precisely because it is
the symbol of the Country that represents our history, our
soldiers, our lives, cannot be considered a minor offence and
must be punished as established in the Penal Code."
According to this member of the National Alliance (AN) party,
"giving in to this is not compatible with the sentiments,
the ideals and the values with which, in particular, Italians
throughout the world are united." Tremaglia says that he
wishes to also strongly reject the attempt to remove the crime of
defamation of the Nation of Italy and of the decisions made by
the Head of State. Tremaglia added, "How can this occur at
the time when Italian politics are being celebrated and the
President of the Republic cites the Tricolor flag as an
instructional tool to educate new generations, and at a time in
which reforms are being called for in order to reaffirm the
prestige and representation of the Head of State." Phil Nelson, 16 January 2003

During a vacation in Rimini I noticed a flag with unusual
proportions (1:2 or similar) as seen in this the photo. I think it can be a
wrong made specimen, I don't know how many flags with this
proportions exist in Italy (I've almost always found 2:3 flags). Paolo Montanelli, 22 August 2008

From press release from the Italian Prime Minister's Office:
"On January 7 each year, the Italian flag, which was raised
in Reggio Emilia over 200 years ago, is celebrated as a symbol of
unity and freedom in our country. It is the flag of the "5
days" of Milan, of Garibaldi's mission and wars for
independence; the flag of the soldiers who died in the two World
Wars, of all the Italian citizens who must defend Italy's honour,
unity and freedom". That was said by the President of the
Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, on the occasion of the Festival
of the Italian Flag."With its colours, Italy greeted fifty
years ago the return of Trieste within our boundaries and paid a
tribute to the dead of Nassiryia. The mayors and teachers of all
Italian municipalities, on the occasion of the various local and
national holidays, often entrust that flag to the children of our
new generations: together with the flag, they entrust them our
history and our hope. Italy is an ancient civilization with
democratic values on which both our institutions and those of a
Europe which managed to overcome the divisions of their different
peoples are based. Italy can look back with pride and ahead with
serenity".John Hall, 9 January 2005